"the destruction and chaos accompanying the fate of the Roman empire [midway through the First Millennium] was all but total, the almost complete breakdown of the old order leading to a loss of the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of antiquity which was far from temporary."
LT, you may find the link in post #17 informative as the dates may relate to the Lost Tribes.
>the years in question (between 2354 and 2345 BC, 1628 and 1623 BC, 1159 and 1141 BC, 208 and 204 BC, and AD 536 and 545) all corresponded with "dark ages" in civilisation.
Thanks for the ping! Certainly the BC dates correspond to very active times in Hebrew, Shemite, and Israelite histories. None on them are spot on key dates, but who knows what the longer term effects are. There may well be some overlap.
(Lurkers can click on my LT Profile below to see what dates we are talking about, and why...)
Nonsense. The knowledge was carried off to elsewhere by the guilds. Even the lost wax process was never actually lost.